Improvement in the preparation of leather



UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICEQ MOSES W. PAGE, OF FRANKLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATION OF LEATHER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 54,587, dated May 8,1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, MosEs W. PAGE, of Franklin, in the county ofMerrimack and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain Improvementsin the Preparation of Leather; and I hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description thereof.

In the ordinary process of carrying leather, after the usual skivingoperation has been performed, the leather has been shaved off,

. chiefly on the flesh side of the butt, in order to reduce it to theuniform thickness required. As, however, the flesh side of the leatheris much stronger than the grain side, the quality of the stock isthereby depreciated, and for the purposes of lacin g, picker, or harnessstraps for looms, and where very thin and narrow machine-beltingisrcquired, this process of currying is particularly objectionable onaccount of the leather being weakened.

My invention consists in buffing or shaving chiefly the grain sideinstead of shaving the flesh side of the butt of the leather, whereby itmay be brought more nearly to a uniform thickness without impairing itsstrength, and requiring but little leveling on the flesh side, while itssoftness and pliability are very much increased.

To enable others skilled in the art to underderstand and use myinvention, 1 will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carriedit out.

The leather to be curried, after having been properly tanned, is skivedin a well-known manner, when it is buffed or shaved very lightlyentirely over the grain side, and then the butt or thick part is shavednearly through the grain by taking off several more cuts or clips, so asto reduce its thickness very considerably, by which means the leather isbrought more nearly to a uniform thickness, thereby requiring but littleleveling or shaving 011 the flesh side of the butt.

While the operations of skiving and buffin g are proceeding great careshould be taken that the stock does notdry, thus avoiding the use ofwater, which, if applied before the oil or stuffing, would occasionconsiderable dam-,

age to the leather. I

The leather is now ready for the stuffing, which is composed of thefollowing ingredients in about the following proportions, viz: Eightpounds of tallow; eight quarts of cooked cod-liver oil, (rejectedmedicine oil;) eight quarts refined petroleum, such as is used bycarriers; four quarts neats -foot oil, mixed and applied as usual.Theleat-her should now be dried in the shade and packed down for a fewdays, when it is pin-blocked, boarded, or otherwise softened, as mostconvenient, and glassed sufficiently to give it a smooth and finishedappearance.

' Wax-leather, calf-skins, and leather for harness and heavy beltingshould be buffed very lightly over the grain, and the wax-leather andcalf-skins are blacked in the following manner: Soap blacking, afterbeing made about a month, is used in small quantities, and the stockbeing well cleaned is left to dry for fifteen or twenty minutes, whenthe cooked cod-liver is applied, and after the oil has struck in or outofsight the leather is immediately glassed, giving it the appearance ofa French finish.

The leather used for harness is blacked in the ordinary way.

By buffin g the leather to be used for lacing, &c., in the manner and onthe grain side, as above described, the hardness of the grain is removedand the butt or thick portion reduced to a uniform thickness with theremaining portion without impairing the strength. of the leather.

In the preparation of the above-described stuffing I find the cookedcod-liver oil to be a valuable ingredient, as it renders the leatherexceedingly soft and pliable, which, on this account, is especiallyadapted for lacing, picker, or harness straps for looms and for thin.and narrow machine-belting, while it answers well for all otherdescriptions of leather in common use, such cooked oil containing lesssediment, and being therefore less liable to gum up or fry out of theleather than the oil now in general use, and preventing the leather frombecoming hard and husky when worn.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

Buffing the grain side instead of shaving the flesh side of the butt orthick portion of the leather, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

MOSES W. PAGE.

Witnesses P. E. TEscH imcHER, N. W. STEARNS.

